On Wednesday I packed up my two meticulously balanced suitcases, the computer, the camera, and the dog for a transatlantic inter-continental move from Oakland, California to København, Denmark. What spurred this journey you ask? Well, my partner of many years is ridiculously clever and found himself a job here in København. So, after defending my master’s thesis and moving out of my apartment in Columbia, Missouri (on the same day) I journeyed back home to Oakland, re-packed my bags, and got on a plane destined for the “cultural capital of Scandinavia” (Lonely Planet’s words, not mine). I should note that I am not a complete outsider to Scandinavian life. I have spent some time in Norway and at one point in time was proficient enough in the language to write a ten page research paper on the history of coffee in Norwegian culture in Norwegian (actually quite a fascinating subject). Needless to say, my Norwegian skills atrophied due to lack of use, and now I am struggling to make sense of Danish and finding myself in a peculiar state of mute literacy. I can understand about 75% of what I read, but only 25% of what Danish people are actually saying. And when I try to speak Danish, which comes out as Norwegian, they give me quizzical looks and answer back in English. All the fun of eavesdropping on anonymous conversations has been dashed as I can only understand every fourth word and I find myself rather lonely walking the streets even though I am surrounded by people. Hopefully I will be able to give some visual representation to those aforementioned people once the cord for my camera battery charger arrives. And for all of those back in the States who were wondering, the inventory of H&M in Denmark is exactly 25% more expensive than it is in the US, but they also have Top Shop, Monsoon, Zara and Vero Moda within blocks of each other, which makes it an all-together superior retail experience
My new home: Copenhagen
On Wednesday I packed up my two meticulously balanced suitcases, the computer, the camera, and the dog for a transatlantic inter-continental move from Oakland, California to København, Denmark. What spurred this journey you ask? Well, my partner of many years is ridiculously clever and found himself a job here in København. So, after defending my master’s thesis and moving out of my apartment in Columbia, Missouri (on the same day) I journeyed back home to Oakland, re-packed my bags, and got on a plane destined for the “cultural capital of Scandinavia” (Lonely Planet’s words, not mine). I should note that I am not a complete outsider to Scandinavian life. I have spent some time in Norway and at one point in time was proficient enough in the language to write a ten page research paper on the history of coffee in Norwegian culture in Norwegian (actually quite a fascinating subject). Needless to say, my Norwegian skills atrophied due to lack of use, and now I am struggling to make sense of Danish and finding myself in a peculiar state of mute literacy. I can understand about 75% of what I read, but only 25% of what Danish people are actually saying. And when I try to speak Danish, which comes out as Norwegian, they give me quizzical looks and answer back in English. All the fun of eavesdropping on anonymous conversations has been dashed as I can only understand every fourth word and I find myself rather lonely walking the streets even though I am surrounded by people. Hopefully I will be able to give some visual representation to those aforementioned people once the cord for my camera battery charger arrives. And for all of those back in the States who were wondering, the inventory of H&M in Denmark is exactly 25% more expensive than it is in the US, but they also have Top Shop, Monsoon, Zara and Vero Moda within blocks of each other, which makes it an all-together superior retail experience